The nominee of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s Servant of the People party, famous strength athlete Vasyl Virastyuk, won the parliamentary by-election in western Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast.
Virastyuk finished as the leader of the race in Nadvirna, a city of 22,000 people, with 31.25% of the vote, according to the Central Election Commission. The official results came in on April 4, seven days after the election took place.
With Viarstyuk’s win, the governing Servant of the People party will control 246 seats in parliament.
Virastyuk’s main opponent, Oleksandr Shevchenko, is challenging the results in court, as the votes from five polling stations where he mostly won haven’t been included because of the violations.
Ukraine held parliamentary by-elections on March 28 after two seats in parliament became vacant in early November. Another by-election took place in eastern Donetsk Oblast, where controversial local mayor Andriy Aksyonov, charged with forgery and embezzlement, won.
Virastyuk is best known for his win in the 2004 World’s Strongest Man competition. After finishing the athletic career, Virastyuk shifted to show business, often making appearances in local films and on TV.
The elected official plans to join the parliament’s sports committee and advocate for the creation of a rehabilitation center for war veterans.
Aside from Shevchenko, Virastyuk’s other opponent was former lawmaker Ruslan Koshulynsky from the nationalist Svoboda party who finished with 28,86% of the vote.
Shevchenko, who received 29,69%, lost to Virastyuk by 749 votes.
Shevchenko is a former lawmaker who represents the For the Future (Za Maibutne) party, which has 24 lawmakers in parliament and is also linked to oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky.
He hasn’t accepted the defeat.
The election results in five polling stations where Shevchenko mainly won were canceled because of the multiple violations. Shevchenko is challenging those decisions in court.
The candidate also had the so-called “clones,” people with the same name as Shevchenko who ran for office to presumably steal the votes from him. Together they received 499 votes.
